Radiohead listed for Mercury honour

Radiohead listed for Mercury honour

Albums by Radiohead, Estelle, Last Shadow Puppets and Adele have all been nominated for this year's Nationwide Mercury Prize.

Published 22nd July 2008

Radiohead is one of the nominees for the Mercury Prize

Also up for a gong are Elbow, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, and Neon Neon, the alter ego of Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys.

The Last Shadow Puppets' debut album, The Age of Understatement, is described on the band's website as containing "12 full-blooded songs, bold and brassy".

It is a collaboration between Arctic Monkey Alex Turner and Miles Kane, frontman of Wirral-based The Rascals.

Radiohead's much-acclaimed In Rainbows was first released last year as a download, for which fans could select their own price.

Adele's debut album 19, which features her powerful voice, has also been put forward for the award. Her MySpace page lists her influences as including Etta James, Billy Bragg and Jeff Buckley.

She said on her official website: "The whole album is about being between 18 and 19, about love."

The Nationwide Mercury Prize, which is open to all genres of music, has generated more entries than ever before in 2008. Chair of judges Simon Frith said: "It's been a strong year for UK music and we again saw a rise in the number of albums entered for the prize."

The shortlist of 12 albums of the year is chosen by an independent judging panel, which includes musicians, producers, presenters and music journalists.

The panel's decision is based solely on the music on the albums rather than on commercial sales success, organisers said.